@vincej1657
Confirm. I have this problem too. It's happens after last opera update.
I was fix it by disable hardware acceleration in settings.
But i think it's not right, because now I have freezes in flash videos.
If hardware acceleration is enabled - i hear sound, but I see black screen instead of video.
I'm was try to update and reinstall flash player, but it don't help me.

@nvmjustagirl Thank you for your detailed answer. From the outset, I have allowed Flash to run on sites. Your intermediate step "Click to enable Adobe ...." does not exist on my PC. It goes immediately to "Sorry you need Flash ... "

I have done to the link provided and downloaded Flash. I am assuming that it was installed into the correct place. How can I check if it is installed correctly?

To test to see if you can at least get Flash running in a fresh, test Opera:

Download the Opera installer, launch it, click "options", set "install path" to a folder on your desktop, set "install for" to "standalone installation" and install. In that Opera, goto "Menu -> settings -> Websites -> Flash" and set Flash to "Allow sites to run Flash". Don't enable Opera Sync in this test Opera.

If that doesn't work, in settings in that test Opera, goto "Browser -> System" and uncheck "Use hardware acceleration when available" and restart that Opera to see if it helps.

If you're not certain you have Flash for Opera, goto https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/in Opera, uncheck "download Chrome" (and any other offers), click "install now" to download the installer, launch the installer, close Opera, install Flash and start the test Opera back up again and test some sites.

If it still doesn't work in the test Opera, you should look for something outside of Opera causing the problem.

Next I was install flash player 29 again. Problem wasn't solved.
Next I was full uninstall flash player 29 and try version 28 from archives. No effect.
I was rollback to flash 29.
I was disable everything installed extentions. It wasn't helps me.
I was try to enable flash in settings and add sites, where I watching video, in exceptions with Allow param. That wasn't solve my problem.
I was check driver updates for my video cards by windows control panel (drivers are actual) and was looking for driver updates on hp.com - nothing new.

@acmanich I am relatively new to opera myself so will avoid giving any potentially bad advice. I am sure someone more knowledgeable will come along to assist. patience is worth it as opera is a standout browser imho and worth persevering with .

I see there's a final driver version for your ATI/AMD GPU here. Page says the driver is beta quality though. It's up to you if you want to try it. I don't know if it's buggy or not.

For the Intel GPU, this should be the latest. You can compare with the properties in the device manager to see what version you have. These are generic drivers for the HD3000. They should work fine. But, if you find them lacking some functionality for your laptop, you can go back to the Microsoft or HP-provided one.